State, national 'loosey-goosey' political practices may be one in the same

Byline2:

Savannah

STATE, NATIONAL ‘LOOSEY-GOOSEY’ POLITICAL PRACTICES MAY BE ONE IN THE SAME

The debt crisis: We are outraged that the federal government spent us into bankruptcy. Is our outrage misplaced? The federal government is reckless and irresponsible, but our own state might be worse.

News flash: “S.C. DOT faces cash crunch.” Our Department of Transportation ran out of money. The regular $28 million “deposit” from the federal government won’t be enough, so our state officials begged Washington to send an additional $52 million. Who’s addicted to spending borrowed money?

More news: “$36 million cut to education delayed.” The federal Dept. of Education was going to withhold funding because (in their judgment) S.C. schools are not spending enough on certain programs. However, federal officials said they’d delay the “penalty” until next year. Whew, that was a close one … they gave us more time to comply with their regulations. Gone are the days when the People funded and operated our own local schools. Now the federal government is in charge. Ironically, the Dept. of Education also gave us a “waiver” from compliance with standardized testing. Oh great, our students can’t even meet minimum standards, but the waiver allows us to “dumb-down” even more and still qualify for the precious federal funding.

A column from The State newspaper (Columbia) describes “loosey-goosey” practices of S.C. elected officials. Lt. Gov. Ard and State Sen. Knotts — cited for not reporting large campaign donations — downplay their ethics violations as shoddy record keeping. Apparently, this is “S.C. business as usual.” Meanwhile we decry elected officials in D.C. for their corruption.